Two parents and a young child make up the Boyle family, who happily live in New York City. After the father gets offered a research job which he can't refuse, the family temporary moves down to a small town outside of Boston where the father can pick up on the research left behind by the last researcher, who hung himself. On their arrival in town, Bob, the young child, begins to see a strange young girl, who seems to be warning him about the inhabitants, with the family soon discovering for themselves the terror which awaits in their new home, the house by the cemetery. Lucio Fulci's The House By The Cemetery is an atmospheric horror romp that features a haunted house, a mad scientist, a flesh-eating zombie creature, among other things. Fulci's penchant for excessive gore is in full effect, with blood flowing throughout and one sequence featuring an insane bat attack that is hilariously over-the-top in the gore department. It's almost as if Fulci is seduced by the beauty of gore and violence, even slowing down the frame rate in a few sequences to capture the blood as it escapes from the body in Gorey detail. Of course gore isn't the only staple of Fulci, as he creates an amazing ominous atmosphere using lots of disjunction in his editing that really helps add to the chaos and disorder of the frights. Juxaposition is also used to a similar affect, with some nice slow camera moments, point-of-view and slow-motion that all together create a very creepy atmosphere. I can't recall if this is common in Fulci's direction but his use of close-ups in The House By The Cemetery is abundant, really focusing the camera on the fear and panic plastered all over the faces of the actors whenever he can get. While some may find The House By The Cemetery a little cheesy, it's impossible to deny Fulci's ability to create atmosphere and mood, in delivering a fun, disgusting, and somewhat campy horror film. 8/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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